Harry L. Parker Named '63 Varsity Crew Coach

Harry L. Parker, freshman crew coach and former Olympic seuller, has been named acting varsity heavyweight crew coach for the 1963 season. He succeeds Harvey M. Love who died Jan. 14.

Lawrence Coolidge '53, coach of the Crimson's varsity lightweights, will take over Parker's duties as freshman heavyweight coach this Spring.

Parker, 28, rowed for three years on the University of Pennsylvania varsity. He took up sculling after graduating in 1957 and won the national single sculls championship and a gold medal in the Pan-American Games in 1959. He repeated as national champion in 1960 and went on to represent the United States in the Rome Olympics.

In the fall of 1960 Parker came to Harvard as freshman heavyweight coach. His first team had a 1-3 record, but last year's freshmen compiled a 3-1 mark including a win over Yale, and went on to finish second in the Eastern Sprint Championships.

Thomas D. Bolles, director of athletics, announced the appointment yesterday. "Harry has done a good job with our freshman crews in the last two years," he said, "and we feel he can do a good job with the varsity. He has worked with the boys and knows them well."

It was Harvey Love who first called Parker to the attention of the athletic department after Parker shared quarters with the Crimson crew at the Henley regatta in 1959. "Love was very impressed with Parker," Bolles recalled, "and he suggested adding him to our staff if the opportunity ever presented itself."

Love served as crew coach for 11 years before his death in January.